|
"And it came
to pass, when the time was come
that he
should be received up,
he
steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.
And sent
messengers before his face:
and they
went, and entered into a village
of the
Samaritans, to make ready for him."
Luke 9:51-52
Steadfastness
In view of His
suffering to come,
Jesus had a
definite destination,
and he knew what it held for Him.
It meant
Jerusalem with its sorrow,
Gethsemane with
its travail,
the judgment
hall with its injustice and shame,
the cross with
its anguish,
and even the
hiding of the Father's face.
For Jesus,
there was no royal road to
the throne of
Israel.
For Him the
only path lay by Jerusalem and Calvary.
It was a long
and weary road,
but Jesus took
every step.
He was tempted
to turn aside from His goal,
to be sure, and
He was tempted in His sufferings.
His friends
wished to draw Him aside from His sufferings.
Peter rebuked
Him when He spoke of them.
Satan tried to
perplex Him,
and His own
soul trembled when the time for His
crucifixion
came.
Yet, He knew
that He had reached
the point of no
return,
and He
proceeded in the midst of the storms
of sin and
doubt about Him
to go toward
the cross where He would be
victor once and
for all.
In looking at
Jesus' life,
one thing that
should impress us is
His steadiness.
He was never
shifting, or even driven about.
The throb of
His life was constant and perfect.
His example of
steadfastness, given to us through
Word and
sacrament,
should portray
our lives today
as we serve an
Almighty God in our daily walk.
When others see
us, do they see Jesus?
"Lord Dictated
Them"
| 
